elastica
02-09-2014, 11:40 PM
Hello! I'm a designer living in Berlin and I've been lurking for the past week before today's intro post.
The intro part
I've lived in Europe for most of my life and I rely on biking and public transport to get me around. I don't even have a driver's license (not a big deal here, but it is in my American and Asian hometowns where everyone drives). I just really like riding my bike. Sometimes I'd just go for a ride, aimlessly cycling in the city with no destination in mind. Distances I ride on these "I'm going out for a bike ride" can be anything between 10-60km.
I've dabbled into cycling as a sport with mountain biking some years ago. I wouldn't say I was the fittest person, so the 60-80 km is the amount I could do easily without any training beforehand/at my fitness level, e.g. I bought my Giant mountainbike, and the next day cycled 60 km on it in about 3 hours.
I'm riding a mixté single speed since because Berlin is pretty flat. Even when I am riding in the countryside, where it's a bit hilly and cobblestoned, it's all been manageable on my single speed.
The sanity check part
Some friends and I signed up as a team for the Berlin Velothon in May, the 60km race (there is also a 120km race for the pros/non-beginners). My friends on the team are all guys and we are all regular bike commuters, some of us in better physical condition than others. We plan to train together on recovery rides in the countryside, and then do speed training at Tempelhof (former Berlin airport, the runway is now open for sports training) individually. As a team we are trying to do the 60km in less than 2 hours 30 minutes, ideally.
Is it sane that I do this race on a single speed bike? There are 1-2 others on the team who also have single speeds.
Otherwise, we were thinking of renting racing bikes 2 weeks prior to the race to get accustomed to it, but we would train on our single speeds. Less insane?
The intro part
I've lived in Europe for most of my life and I rely on biking and public transport to get me around. I don't even have a driver's license (not a big deal here, but it is in my American and Asian hometowns where everyone drives). I just really like riding my bike. Sometimes I'd just go for a ride, aimlessly cycling in the city with no destination in mind. Distances I ride on these "I'm going out for a bike ride" can be anything between 10-60km.
I've dabbled into cycling as a sport with mountain biking some years ago. I wouldn't say I was the fittest person, so the 60-80 km is the amount I could do easily without any training beforehand/at my fitness level, e.g. I bought my Giant mountainbike, and the next day cycled 60 km on it in about 3 hours.
I'm riding a mixté single speed since because Berlin is pretty flat. Even when I am riding in the countryside, where it's a bit hilly and cobblestoned, it's all been manageable on my single speed.
The sanity check part
Some friends and I signed up as a team for the Berlin Velothon in May, the 60km race (there is also a 120km race for the pros/non-beginners). My friends on the team are all guys and we are all regular bike commuters, some of us in better physical condition than others. We plan to train together on recovery rides in the countryside, and then do speed training at Tempelhof (former Berlin airport, the runway is now open for sports training) individually. As a team we are trying to do the 60km in less than 2 hours 30 minutes, ideally.
Is it sane that I do this race on a single speed bike? There are 1-2 others on the team who also have single speeds.
Otherwise, we were thinking of renting racing bikes 2 weeks prior to the race to get accustomed to it, but we would train on our single speeds. Less insane?